The Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, has revealed that in the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Madrid and in the three Area Prosecutors, they are reviewing one by one the more than 100 cases collected in the collective complaint filed by victim associations last October for the people who died in nursing homes during the pandemic.
During his appearance this Tuesday in the Senate, García Ortiz recalled that on October 31, 2024, Residences Tides and the Truth and Justice Association for the Victims in Residences sent a copy of the collective complaint that had been submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. This complaint, which was sent to each territorial prosecutor’s office, was filed on behalf of 109 relatives of 115 people who in March 2020 were living in nursing homes in the Community of Madrid.
The complaint stated that non-referral protocols resulted in the denial of health care to 80% of residents due to their moderate or severe dependency; that medicalization of nursing homes was not carried out; and that residents were denied health care in private facilities unless they had medical insurance.
The Attorney General of the State explained that, within this case, the Technical Secretariat of the General Prosecutor’s Office held a meeting with representatives of these associations on December 3, 2024.
Furthermore, he noted that on January 27, 2025, a meeting took place with the prosecutors in charge of handling the complaint at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Madrid and in the three Area Prosecutors.
«All of them are proceeding to review the complaint in relation to each victim, initiating investigative proceedings for each of them to verify if the facts have already been investigated and, if so, to confirm if all necessary steps have been taken based on this new complaint and if the same facts reported are present in any of them,» García Ortiz said.
He specified that if there is a criminal procedure, the complaint has been sent urging the necessary steps. Otherwise, the corresponding investigative action is being carried out within investigative proceedings, aiming to do so promptly to prevent the prescription of the reported facts.
In both cases, he emphasized that the resolution will be personally notified to the complainants, as relatives of the victims.
He also added that if the case has been archived by referral to the judicial body, an explanation will be provided to the associations acting on behalf and in many cases directly to those relatives. This appearance, he indicated, has already been verified in several investigative proceedings.
Otherwise, they will be heard within the investigative proceedings initiated and in the procedures that may arise from them.
García Ortiz stated that since his arrival at the Prosecutor’s Office, he made it a «priority» to understand and analyze the consequences of the pandemic and, especially, the deaths in nursing homes.
He recalled that in October 2022, he issued a circular to all prosecutors in Spain to report on all ongoing judicial procedures and urged the senior prosecutors of the autonomous communities to take appropriate measures for victims or their relatives to be heard in investigative proceedings and judicial procedures followed for deaths in nursing homes and senior centers.
Beyond potential criminal responsibilities, the pandemic highlighted the need to rethink the residential model. «Prevention, care, and protection are of great importance to promote a new care model focused on people,» he defended.
García Ortiz also recalled that in May 2024, the Technical Secretariat issued a new document requesting updated information from senior prosecutors, as well as reporting the number of resolutions that had been appealed by the Public Ministry. Based on the data collected, he summarized that 91 procedures were still ongoing nationwide.
Furthermore, he emphasized that, according to updated data from November 2024 in the Community of Madrid, 27 procedures are still in progress, although eight of them are pending resolution of appeals filed against the provisional dismissal.
FUENTE